The contested role of translanguaging in English for academic purposes courses: the practices of Chinese international students

ABSTRACT

In Australia, international students who do not meet university set English language requirements can alternatively attend intensive courses in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Such courses are steeped in the traditions of communicative language teaching, often holding ‘English only’ classroom policies. This article draws on data from a larger research project to examine Chinese international students’ practices of learning English vocabulary in an EAP programme. Through the lens of the theory of practice architectures, the study reveals Chinese international students often engaged in translanguaging practices. These practices were enabled by the practice arrangements of their English language classroom, while concurrently resisted by teachers. Here, I argue for EAP teachers, curriculum writers and teachers to harness the translanguaging practices of their students to facilitate more effective learning.

KEYWORDS:

• EAP
• translanguaging
• practice architectures
• Chinese learners

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Thanh Pham and Dr Raqib Chowdhury for feedback on this article. I am also grateful for constructive and thoughtful feedback from three reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.